Miami -LRB- CNN -RRB- Despite calling the case `` incredible '' and the newly discovered evidence `` very intriguing , '' a judge Friday ruled against overturning the conviction of a onetime wealthy businessman who 's been sitting in prison for 27 years for the killing of two people inside a downtown Miami hotel .

Krishna `` Kris '' Maharaj , 75 , was not in court when Judge William Thomas said , `` This court fully weighed the materiality , relevance and inconsistencies of the newly discovered evidence , and concludes that such evidence falls dramatically short of establishing that the murders were committed by anyone other than Mr. Maharaj . ''

The convicted killer 's family sat in the front row of the courtroom , and held each other as the judge uttered those words . Just a couple of rows behind them , the wife and mother of the victims , Derrick and Duane Moo Young , shed tears of happiness .

Maharaj 's attorneys have 30 days to appeal the decision . They did not say whether they would do so .

From luxury living to prison bars

It was October 1986 , when police arrested Maharaj -- an international food importer and newspaper owner -- in the shooting deaths of his business partners , Derrick Moo Young and his 23-year-old son .

At the time , the British citizen was living the good life in South Florida . He had owned luxury cars and horses that raced against thoroughbreds held by Queen Elizabeth II . That all came crumbling down .

Despite having an alibi , Maharaj was charged with murdering the Moo Youngs because they allegedly had cheated him out of more than $ 400,000 . He was found guilty and sentenced to death -- a penalty that was later reduced to life in prison .

Then , in April 2014 , Judge Thomas , of Florida 's 11th Judicial Circuit Court , granted Maharaj a chance that could open the door to freedom .

A hearing was held in November to determine whether new evidence from Maharaj 's lawyers `` undermines confidence in the verdict , '' according to court documents . Defense attorneys also had to establish that the new `` evidence would probably produce an acquittal or less severe sentence on retrial . ''

A cartel connection ?

Maharaj 's lawyers said evidence suggested the murders were committed by former members of Pablo Escobar 's infamous Colombian drug cartel .

In the late 1970s and early '80s , Escobar cashed in on the exploding popularity of cocaine in the United States , said reporter Mark Bowden , author of `` Killing Pablo . ''

Maharaj : I was framed for murders ordered by Escobar

Leader of the Medellin Cartel , Escobar was responsible at one point for almost 80 % of Colombia 's cocaine exports , making him the seventh richest man in the world , Bowden told CNN .

Escobar was killed in a rooftop shootout with authorities in 1993 .

According to a motion filed last year by Maharaj 's attorneys , a `` Colombian drug cartel member confirmed that the Moo Young murders were committed at the behest of Pablo Escobar . ''

`` The Moo Youngs were laundering money for the Colombian cartels , '' the defense motion said . `` This is what precipitated their murders . ''

An ex-cartel member confirmed that `` Maharaj was not involved in the murders of the Moo Youngs , and that they had to be eliminated because they had lost Colombian drug money , '' according to the defense motion .

`` We 've got several Colombian cartel people to say , ` We did the murders , ' '' Maharaj defense attorney Clive Stafford Smith told CNN on the phone last June .

The defense team also alleged Florida prosecutors covered up evidence in the 1987 trial that could have proved Maharaj 's innocence .

The prosecution 's case

Although prosecutors said they stood by the decades-old case , in a June email to CNN , a state attorney spokesman wrote , `` Now that we are re-engaged in litigation on this matter , it would be inappropriate for us to be commenting at this time . ''

But , in their own motion , prosecutors wrote , `` The only thing that is obvious to anyone who really looks at these fantastical allegations by the defendant is that they are empty and have no substance . ''

`` None of -LSB- the potential witnesses named in the defense motion -RSB- have any first hand knowledge , provide no admissible testimony or evidence and only attempt to further the nonsensical and wholly speculative theories of the defense , '' the prosecution document said .

The evidence against Maharaj was significant .

Police found his fingerprints in the guest room at Miami 's Dupont Plaza Hotel where the shootings occurred . Maharaj said he was there for a meeting , but departed before the Moo Youngs were killed .

Nineteen fingerprints found at the crime scene have never been identified , according to the defense motion .

Maharaj : Then and now

Maharaj told CNN 's `` Death Row Stories '' that he left the hotel and drove 25 miles to Fort Lauderdale to have lunch with one of his newspaper employees . The employee signed an affidavit as an alibi witness .

The restaurant manager , Ron Kisch , told `` Death Row Stories , '' he remembered seeing Maharaj having lunch that day .

`` It does n't seem like there 's any way possible that he could have killed people at 12 o'clock and then been in for lunch sometime between 12 and 2 , '' Kisch said .

Five other witnesses came forward saying Maharaj was with them on the day of the murders , `` Death Row Stories '' reported .

Today , Maharaj sits in a medium-security correctional facility outside Miami . He had been in poor health , according to his lawyer , although he seems to have improved .

CNN 's Javier De Diego reported from Miami .

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Judge in Florida rules against new murder trial

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After 27 years in prison , lawyers claimed new evidence could free ex-millionaire

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Kris Maharaj 's lawyers say he was framed for a drug-money hit ordered by Pablo Escobar

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Prosecutors say Maharaj shot and killed a father and son in a Miami hotel